


Tomates y Amor

by cutthroatpixie



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-05-23
Updated: 2012-10-30
Packaged: 2017-11-22 03:04:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cutthroatpixie/pseuds/cutthroatpixie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Far, far away, beyond the borders of dreams and wishes, just past where fantasies live, there sat a quiet, peaceful little kingdom. In a not so far, far away land, closer to where dreams go to die, sat a very disgruntled Italian man. This is the story of how these two realities came to meet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Cottage in the Woods

**Author's Note:**

> This is an Enchanted AU. I'm not completely done writing it, so updates may be sporadic, but I just couldn't wait to post. If you've seen Enchanted, you'll know kiiind of what happens, but not really. Because this isn't exactly like Enchanted at all, just loosely based.

Far, far away, beyond the borders of dreams and wishes, just past where fantasies live, there sat a quiet, peaceful little kingdom. Beyond the edges of this town sat a castle, tall and magnificent, keeping watch over all the people of the land. If one were to take a moment to look away from the splendour of this building, they might notice an expansive tomato field nearby, filled with every possible kind of tomato known to man (and some that were not yet known, for this field went on for ages). This field, the prize of the kingdom's royal family, was home to not just the fruit that grew unendingly, but also to a cheerful, modest little cottage seated right in the middle of the vines.

This cottage is where our story begins.

_Oh this wondrous fruit_  
That fills me with such glee  
Hue so red, and oh so cute! 

Inside the cottage, a young woman danced around, tending to a lone tomato plant on her windowsill. She'd found the poor thing growing all alone in a patch of dirt beyond the borders of the field, and after some careful digging, potting, and transporting, the plant had found itself a newer, more nurturing home. It had yet to bare any fruit, but that wasn't a problem, as this woman's home was surrounded by the food she held most dear.

_So tasty, there's no dispute_  
They're the best, if you ask me  
Oh this wondrous fruit 

Her task of watering the tiny plant done, she began dancing around, her long mahogany hair whipping around her as she twirled and sang, her song no doubt an ode to the fruit that surrounded her.

_Sometimes large, at times minute_  
Flesh so soft and blemish free  
Hue so red, and oh so cute! 

Though she seemed oblivious to the rest of the world around her, so caught up in her song and dance as she was, the outside world was not quite so oblivious to her (though, for all intents and purposes, this particular "outside world" was just about as oblivious as she in every other sense).

"Do you hear that, Gil?" In another part of the field, one inhabited by only tomato plants and not stray cottages with random singing girls inside, a man was busy picking the ripest of the tomatoes and placing them in a basket. The rich, golden tan on his skin spoke of many days spent outdoors under the ever-shining sun, though his green eyes held the carefree glint of somebody who was used to spending his days as he pleased. True enough, this man was not a common labourer sent to harvest tomatoes, but the prince of the kingdom, enjoying himself on a lazy afternoon.

"Eh," another man, one of the prince's most trusted (or perhaps most only-person-around) friends piped up after a long pause. "I don't hear anything, you probably just spent too much time out in the sun again."

_Without their love, my song'd be mute_  
The sky would not be sunshiney  
Oh this wondrous fruit 

"No, no, there it is again!" the prince cried out, nearly dropping the basket in his arms in his excitement. "Isn't that the cutest song you've ever heard? I wonder where it's coming from?"

"Like I said," nervous laughter filled the air as the other man tried to deny hearing the song that was so obviously (and rather oddly so) echoing through the fields, "Don't hear anything at all."

The prince sent his friend a concerned look. "Did you dare yourself to see how many cotton balls you could stick in your ears again? I know it was really funny that one time when we were drinking and you did it, but--"

"I am too awesome to not be hearing things!" the friend insisted. "You're just going crazy, s'all."

The prince wasn't listening to his friend, however, but to the continued song of that fair maid in the cottage...

"Oh screw you, Tonio, I'm not taking your basket back for you while you run off to find some crazy singing chick."

And off to find the source of that voice he was! Despite being quite far from where he was, the song was as loud and clear as if it were playing right next to him. He continued onward through the fields, guided only by that sweet voice, until finally, he stood outside that strange little cottage he'd somehow never noticed before. Pushing the door open, his voice lifted up in song as well, echoing the sentiments of the previous refrains.

_Happiness, they're at the root_  
They smell so wonderfully  
Hue so red, and oh so cute! 

The woman inside took a moment to notice him, for she was now busy serenading a ripe, juicy tomato she held in her hands, but she stopped dead in her tracks when she spun around and saw the man standing in her doorway.

Two sets of the greenest of emeralds met across that small cottage, and a spark ignited in both the heart of the prince and the heart of the maiden.

"I'm Antonio," the prince said cheerfully, smiling brighter than even the sun above could manage. "You love tomatoes too?"

"Of course!" the woman responded, grinning back at Antonio as she held her hand out to offer him another of the precious fruits. "They're my favourite."

"Mine too."

And just like that, the song picked back up again, louder and with more passion than before, as it was now being sung in perfect harmony, by two people whose hearts beat just in time with the melody.

 _For the best, I'm in pursuit_  
Never leave, please hear my plea  
Oh this wondrous fruit  
Hue so red, and oh so cute!

Twin bites of the soft red flesh of that tomatoes sealed the deal, and Antonio smiled once more. There was only one thing left to do after such a perfect first meeting. "We'll be married in the morning, then!" It may have seemed a hasty proposal, but Antonio was a passionate prince, and why wait when it came to true love? Almost as an after-thought, he added, “And your name?”

"Oh, it‘s a lot like yours actually!” the woman replied, the smile she gave back rivalling his in intensity. “My name is Antonia.”


	2. I'm Wishing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No wells were harmed in the making of this chapter.

Soon enough, word of Prince Antonio's engagement to the beautiful Antonia had spread throughout the kingdom, and there was much rejoicing amongst the citizens. From east to west, north to south, celebrations were erupting in honour of the upcoming union, congratulating the prince on finally finding a suitable match.

Antonio and Antonia were elated, of course, though they barely saw one another in the day between their first meeting and their impending marital vows. Antonia had a dress to make, Antonio a wedding and reception to set up in the palace. There was simply no time for small talk or getting to know one another-- not when true love was on the line. And that's what was happening, of course, the eternal union of their true love.

Antonio was happy, Antonia was happy, Antonio's mother was happy, the kingdom was happy. Everyone was happy and busy and planning for a beautiful wedding-- everyone, that is, except for Antonio's two best friends.

"This really sucks," Gilbert muttered, his words partially muffled by the table he was face down on. Of course, that is not entirely what he had meant to say, but for some reason, whenever he tried to say anything... unsavoury, it simply didn't come out right. It was peculiar, and he'd told Francis and Antonio billions of times about it, but they both just insisted he'd had too much to drink or he'd been hanging around in that one building with the lead paint for too long, and it really was a hassle being so awesome you noticed things others didn't. "Really, really sucks," he repeated when Francis didn't answer at first.

"Oui, it does," Francis finally replied. "I am all for l'amour, as you know, but this will be the end of everything!"

"Tonio is going to get l--" Gilbert started, only to suddenly find himself without the words to finish. Weird... weird world they lived in.

"Not just that," Francis responded, apparently knowing what Gilbert had been intending to say. "He's getting _married_! He's going to have a wife, and soon enough he'll actually be running the kingdom... He won't have time to hang out with us!"

A miserable cloud settled over Gilbert and Francis, and for the first time in many years, there was a small bit of the land where depression settled in. There may have been a joyous occassion coming up, but Prince Antonio's closest friends were dreading it.

"This is so unawesome," Gilbert said, taking another swig of beer. "So. Un.Awesome."

"I agree, mon ami."

At the very same moment, both men wished there was something they could do to stop this awful change about to take place in their lives. Ever since they were children, it had always been the three of them-- Antonio, Francis, and Gilbert-- wreaking havok and making their mark on the kingdom. Sure, Antonio was a prince, and destined to rule the very kingdom they terrorised so often, but that had never mattered, because Antonio had never taken his duties all that seriously. But now he was getting married... and that meant he might very well start to take things _very_ seriously. And that just wouldn't do, for Francis and Gilbert at least.

Just as they were both making their wish, a wish for things to return to normal, for life to resume as it was, their dark cloud of misery morphed and twisted. A chill ran through the warm always-summer air, a sense of dread wrapped itself around the small abode they resided in. If anyone else were to enter the area, fear would have filled their very soul, as a mystical, magical, heavy aura was filling every molecule of air that surrounded that area...

"Eyebrows is here."

"I can see that. He's wearing the fairy outfit again."

"It's not a fairy outfit, you idiots!"

Indeed, a fairy outfit it was not, but the costume of an _angel_ , though this particular angel did not bring about world peace, fuzzy feelings, good will toward man, or anything else holy or angelic in anyway. No, this "angel" came with the strong scent of gin, a questionable wand, and the sense that you probably shouldn't have summoned him, no matter how desperate you were.

Francis and Gilbert were sorely desperate, though, and they ignored the fact that this man would probably just make matters worse.

"Ah, Arthur, lovely as ever," Francis said with a leer, gaze fixed on a certain part of the other man's anatomy. "Want to help us get rid of a pesky young woman who's trying to steal Antonio away?"

"Why the," an eery silence filled the air as Arthur was cut off. "Why would I help you?"

"Because nobody likes you and you've got nothing better to do?" Gilbert suggested.

"Well you showed up, so you might as well," Francis added.

"...Oh fine," Arthur said, scowling at the two of them. "I never really did like Antonio anyway."

"I think everyone knows that, oui."

Arthur sat down at the table with Francis and Gilbert, and had he been in any other land, his "angelic" outfit may have ridden up and placed itseld into a most indecent position, but considering where they were, it stayed in place just fine, much to Francis' (and nobody else's) disappointment.

"So you can get rid of the girl?"

Gilbert hadn't been _thinking_ "girl" and added this incident to his ever-growing list of odd things that happened in this kingdom.

"Of course I can." Arthur rolled his eyes.

"He thinks he's a magician or something, it's worth a shot."

"I'm a sorcerer, how many times do I have to tell you?!"

Francis grinned and patted Arthur's bare knee. "Of course, you're a very powerful sorcerer, whatever you say."

"Do you want my help or not? I don't have to do anything for you, you know."

A few drinks later, and Arthur was singing an entirely different tune.

\---

Everyone always said that your wedding day was the most important day of your life. Antonia wasn't really quite sure who "everyone" was, but she assumed they said so anyway. She couldn't really remember her mother, so she had no advice to follow, and she'd never been to a wedding, but... she felt in her heart that this was the right thing to do. She loved Antonio, she'd known it from the minute she laid eyes on him, and she knew he loved her too. She'd been up hour after hour since she'd met Antonio, singing and dreaming and preparing for the wedding ceremony, and she was finally ready to embark on this most important journey called love.

After dressing herself, she exited her cottage and began making her way towards Antonio's castle. Towards the location of her wedding. Her _wedding_. Antonia squealed with delight, barely able to contain her excitement.

"And where are you off to, miss?" a voice came from behind Antonia, startling her slightly.

She turned around and was face with a cloaked, faceless figure.

This didn't bother her in a slightest, however, and she smiled at the mysterious person. "I'm getting married!" she exclaimed, joy filling her voice as she spoke.

"Ah, I _see_ ," the person replied, sounding just as gleeful as she was. "Then you've already made a wish at the well, have you?"

"The well?" Antonia hadn't heard anything about a well!

The person tutted at her, and thought she couldn't see their face, it sounded as if they were frowning. "That won't do at all, you have to visit the wishing well before you get married."

Now, Antonia was a very trusting woman, and if a strange cloaked person said she had to make a wish on some well she'd never heard of before, well, that made perfect sense to her. She hadn't spent much time outside of her cottage in the middle of Antonio's tomato field, after all (unless one counted her dreams), and there were probably many things she didn't know anything about. So though there was an odd aura surrounding this strange person, and though most people may have questioned them, Antonia did not.

"Will you show me where the well is? I don't want to get married without visiting it!"

"Of course, of course," the stranger laughed a bit. "It's right this way."

It was in the opposite direction of Antonio's castle, but Antonia knew he couldn't exactly get married without her, and after all, this was clearly something she _had_ to do! So she followed the stranger, never noticing the other two figures that were following behind them at a distance, until they reached a large, beautiful, ivy-coloured well in the middle of a forest.

"What do I do?" she asked, gazing down at the well's waters.

"Lean in close," the cloaked figure insisted.

She leaned in close, her gown pressing against the well's edge.

"Close your eyes,"

She did so.

"And make a wish."

Antonia smiled, knowing exactly what it was she wanted to wish for. All she wanted, all she'd ever wanted, was to live happily ever after, with the man of her dreams, her one true love...

"Have a nice trip."

Before she could respond to the odd remark, Antonia was tumbling over the edge of the well, falling rapidly towards the waters below, unable to scream for help as a bright white light engulfed her entirely.


	3. Part of Your World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edmée = Belgium. I've been fucking around with with this chapter for a long time and I'm not entirely happy with it, but I really wanted to post because it's been awhile. So I hope you all like it. :)

It was 5:00 PM on the dot and Lovino was just getting off work. The call center he worked in was still alive with activity -- overachievers working extra hours in hopes of getting a raise, unfortunate souls showing up for the shift after his-- but Lovino had had enough. He could only take so many hours of attempting to pretend to be something close to nice while dissatisfied morons yelled at him about things he had nothing to do with (actually, he couldn't take _any_ amount of that bullshit some days, and that's why he was currently on his second of three warnings even though he'd only been employed for two months). Luckily for him (and for any and all people who intended to call in that weekend), it was Friday and he was done for the week.

"Hey, Lovino, wait up!"

He whipped around, eyes settling on a blonde woman quickly making her way toward him. Ever the gentleman for pretty ladies who weren't yelling at him from the safety of a phone line, he waited, despite the fact that he'd much rather rush home as quickly as possible. "Did you need something?"

"A few of us are going out for drinks, you want to come?"

He glanced over behind her at the small group of men and women chatting excitedly amongst one another and immediately shook his head. He had to half-listen to overly cheerful morons all day long while they did their best to serve idiot customers, he didn't want to spend his leisure time with them as well. "Eh, sorry. I'm busy tonight, Edmée."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you pencil in 'sit around and mope' for every Friday evening or something?" Two other women snickered and Lovino was ashamed to feel a warm blush of embarrassment spread over his face.

"I'll see you on Monday," he mumbled, turning around and heading off toward his apartment.

"Clear your schedule for next Friday, I'm not taking no for an answer!"

Lovino wasn't too worried about his co-worker's words-- she said the same thing every Friday, and every Friday he got off the hook with a flimsy excuse and some minor teasing.

His post-work ritual done with, he set off for the apartment he shared with his brother. The streets were buzzing with life, people rushing by every which way, cars dashing by, taunting Lovino as he pulled his coat tighter around himself and made his way home as fast as possible.

\---

An unfamiliar, unpleasing sort of noise escaped Antonia's soft red lips as she slowly woke up from what seemed like a nightmare. So used to singing and laughing, whatever the sound was seemed foreign to her ears, but the oddity was soon forgotten when she realised she was not awaking in her bed, nor was she laying under the vines of a tomato plant, but instead she saw nothing but darkness, felt nothing but wet, clammy, hard ground beneath her. She quickly stood up, looking around for any sign of where she might be. Her slippered feet made a sloshing noise as she stepped forward, hands reaching out in hopes of finding something to guide her way.

She whistled, a soft tune she so often used to call upon the birds that lived near her cottage, but curiously, there was no answer.

"Where am I...?" she said to herself, looking up just in time to see a faint sliver of light above. She wrinkled her brow in confusion and it took her quite a few moments to remember what had happened. "Oh!" she cried out. "I'm must be at the bottom of that well I fell down!"

Keeping an eye on the light, her blind groping around was soon rewarded with a ladder beneath her fingertips, and she carefully made her way up. She smiled happily when she reached the top, and though the well appeared to have been closed off, she'd spent many years working in a field and doing repairs on her home, so she had little trouble pushing the cover aside.

"I hope I didn't scare that old woman when I fe--"

The old woman was gone.

The well was gone.

 _Everything_ was gone. Not just gone, but replaced with an entirely new sort of world Antonia had never seen, never even imagined, before.

\---

"Fuck fuck, fucking _fuck_."

Lovino was sitting on the stoop outside his apartment building, throwing stray rocks out into the street and cursing his stupid, miserable, unlucky life, as well as his extra stupid brother who apparently didn't know how to use a phone.

He dug through his pocket for what felt like the billionth time in the last half hour and checked through his backpack for the billion-and-first time, but it was all in vain. He'd forgotten his keys, Feliciano was nowhere to be found, and nobody else seemed to be coming in or out of the building.

"This couldn't be more stupid," he mumbled, stretching out on the front steps to his building.

A stray rain drop fell on his nose and before he knew it, it was followed by hell knows how many more.

Lovino groaned and attempted to take cover in the doorway, banging his head back against the cold, wooden door. "Why me."

\---

Lovino had been sitting outside so long he'd lost all track of time (it'd been 45 minutes) when he was suddenly struck with a brilliant idea. making his way to the back of the building, he quickly found the balcony of his third-story apartment. The last time he'd climbed in through a window, admittedly, it'd been into his ground-level room back when he still lived with his grandpa... but this was just two more stories, it couldn't be _that_ hard, right?

Apparently it was.

And apparently, he wasn't the only one who'd had a "brilliant" idea that day.

"Ow!" he yelped as soon as his lungs has managed to capture enough air after being temporarily _crushed by a woman falling from the sky_ / "What the fu-- who the he-- _ow_."

"I am so sorry! Are you alright? I didn't mean to fall on you!" Since her fall had been broken (by Lovino), the strange, falling woman appeared to be unscathed, and she promptly got up and tugged Lovino along with her. Upon further inspection, Lovino noticed she was quite beautiful. Upon more intelligent inspection, he realised she was probably insane, or drunk (most likely both), as she was standing outside his apartment building. At night. In the rain. Wearing a wedding dress.

"Uh..."

"I was just trying to get back to the tomato field," she said, as if that explained everything. "And I saw those tomatoes up there, but then I couldn't reach them..."

Definitely drunk.

"That's my balcony, lady, not your stupid tomato field" Though it was kind of cool if she actually had a whole tomato field. But Lovino really doubted that, in this city.

"Silly me, then." She shrugged at him, a bright smile on her lips. It was as if she saw absolutely nothing wrong with this situation. "They do look really good, though."

"Huh?"

"The tomatoes! You must take really good care of them."

"I'd have to be a dumbass not to. What kind of idiot doesn't take good care of their tomato plants?" His brother, actually. And there was that one year... but that really was _not_ his fault, okay? "...What the hell are you doing?"

The woman looked down from her second climbing endeavour and smiled at him. "Trying to get to the tomatoes again?"

The rain had ceased, but a chill ran through the air and Lovino was soaked, so he decided he might as well go with this for now. "There's a set of keys on the table inside the house. Toss them down if you manage to get up there, would you?"

Fortunately for Lovino’s lungs, the woman (whose name was apparently I’m-Antonia-it’s-so-nice-to-meet-you-do-you-like-tomatoes-of-course-you-do-oh-wow-your-house-is-messy!) was much more successful during her second attempt at breaking into his house than she’d been initially. Half an hour later, his wet clothes were taking up space on the laundry room floor, a warm cup of coffee was in his hands, and a very soaked, very crazy woman was stealing his tomatoes.

“You going to sit around here all night stealing my shit, or should I call you a cab?”

“Cab?”

“A taxi. So you can go home.” He assumed she had a home, anyway, since he’d never met a homeless person who ran around in what looked like a designer wedding dress.

“I really don’t know if you could take me that far, I’m not exactly sure how I ended up here.” She didn’t sound too upset about apparently being ridiculously lost, more thoughtful than anything. In fact, she apparently decided to end the conversation there, and skipped towards the front door. Lovino had no idea how to react to this woman, and so he watched as she took the two umbrellas by the front door, some plastic wrap from the kitchen, and a sewing kit (that he definitely did not own, for the record) outside to set up a little tent for the tomato plants that were once again being drowned with rain. A soft tune drifted in through the slightly open balcony door, and if Lovino didn’t know any better, he’d have sworn the plants suddenly started to bloom right before his eyes, looking far more healthy than they had before.

“…Whatever. I’m ordering a pizza.” 


	4. Friend Like Me

Lovino awoke to the smell of cinnamon, the soft sizzle of oil, and the overwhelming feeling that he'd forgotten something. Mumbling to himself, he stretched and rolled around under his blankets before finally climbing out from beneath them. "Stupid little brother must have decided to come home," he said to himself, staggering sleepily towards the kitchen. The other man hadn't made an appearance at all the night before, but if somebody was in the kitchen cooking it had to be hi---

_"Look, thanks for. Whatever you did to make my tomatoes less dead looking, lady, but you should seriously go home now."_

_"Oh, of course! It was nice of you to have me over for dinner, and the tomatoes were fun to take care of."_

_"Whatever. Call. Whoever. And go home."_

_"I really don't think they'd hear me from here, though."_

"Morning, Lovi!"

Or the crazy woman who'd spent the night because he couldn't figure out how to get her to go home. It could also be her.

He had half a mind to tell her to get the fuck out, but she was still cooking breakfast, and somebody else cooking breakfast meant he didn't have to do it. She'd even made coffee, and he sure as hell wasn't cleaning up after her when she was done, so he'd just have to let her stay until she cleaned up her mess. Also she was wearing his robe, she so had to clean that when she was done. "I see you dumped the wedding dress."

"It would be silly walking around in it all day again, when I already wore it yesterday." A plate of golden-brown fried bread was placed in front of him, honey dripping down the sides and since when did he even have honey in the house? "Besides, I want to look nice when Antonio comes for me! He must be looking really hard, the least I can do is be ready for when he finds me."

"...You're marrying a guy named Antonio?"

"Mhmm!"

"And your name is Antonia?"

"It is."

"...Yeah that's really dumb."

"Why do you think that? At least our names sound nice together! It would be really sad if they didn't." Antonia nodded as if that made sense, which it did not, and sat down across from him.

"Whatever. I wouldn't marry a girl just because her name was... Lovina or something." This was mostly (entirely) because the only girl he knew with such a name was his cousin (shit, his family was lazy), but that was beside the point.

"Oh I'm not marrying him just because his name is Antonio, that's just how it turned out." She sighed happily, resting her head in her palm as she continued to speak. "He's sweet and kind and he really loves tomatoes and you know, I just knew the minute I saw him that it was meant to be."

"Uh-huh."

"And it's really a pity we couldn't get married yesterday, but I'm sure everything will still be ready once he finds me."

"Right."

She sighed again. "That day we spent planning the wedding after we met was the second-best day of my life." After seeing Lovino's raised eyebrow she quickly added, "Well my wedding day will be the first best, of course."

"You're marrying some guy with the same name as you even though you've only know him for a couple days?"

"When it's true love, you just know."

"That's a crock of shi--"

"Fratello, you made a friend!"

Lovino finished his curse and looked over to the front door, where his younger brother was standing next to his dropped backpack clutching his hands together happily and bouncing back and forth on the balls of his feet. "I always knew this would happen, Nonno wasn't so sure, but I kept telling him, ve, Lovi will find somebody who likes him someday, and now it’s happening!"

"Feliciano."

"Oh and you're even sharing your robe!" Ignoring Lovino's near-constant repetition of his name, Feliciano began digging through his backpack for his camera. "Hold still, hold still, I need to get a picture so Nonno believes me!"

"Feliciano!"

Click. "There, all done! Aw, you two look so cute, how'd you meet, what's her name, is she going to move in with us?"

"She was just leav--"

"Oh, how rude of me! I'm Antonia." In a flash, Antonia was over by the door pulling Feliciano into a hug. "It's so nice to meet you! You and Lovi are clearly brothers, you look so alike!"

"Nice to meet you Antonia! That's what everyone says, but Lovi always insists he's way better looking than me and people should stop saying things like that, which is really mean because I'm not bad looking either, but I know he doesn't mean it as an insult, he's just like that. He says the same thing when people say him and our cousin look alike, only then she usually punches him and they end up arguing about who actually is more attractive, it’s really funny.”

“Feli, shut up.”

Lovino was apparently being ignored for the time being. “Did you two have a date last night, Antonia?"

"A date? We just had some pizza and then went to bed."

"Oooh." Feliciano grinned and gave Lovino a knowing look and dear lord his brother was a _pervert_ , when did that happen?!

"It's not what it sounds like!" Lovino cut in. "She's just crazy and doesn't know how to get home so she slept on the couch!"

That did nothing to stop Feliciano's maddening grin. "But you never let anyone sleep on the couch, that's why I always have to stay the night at my friends' houses! You're making so much progress, I'm so proud."

"Progress? _Proud_? What the fuck have you been smoking, nothing is going on here!"

"You don't have to be embarrassed, I'm sure after a few more dates something will be going on."

"She's getting married, moron, nothing is ever going to be "going on"."

Feliciano gasped. "You're dating a married woman? You know what Nonno told us about doing that!"

"I'm not married yet, but you both can come to the wedding if you want? I'd like all my friends to be there!"

"Aw, really? I love weddings!"

"ENOUGH."

Antonia and Feliciano both stopped and looked over at Lovino, who was at this point bright red. "You," he pointed at Antonia. "Try to tell _him_ ," pointed at Feliciano, "Where exactly it is you live. I'm going to take a shower and when I get back, both of you better be gone."

"Ve, I live here, Lovi."

"GONE."

"Yes sir!"

\---

Once Lovino had finished his shower, he felt a little calmer. It was Saturday, thankfully, and he was fully intent on just hanging around his apartment, _alone_ , for at least the rest of the day. It was raining once again, which further increased his resolve to not leave the house for the rest of the weekend. A quick glance out the window let him know that the tomatoes were still covered by the bizarre contraption Antonia had made for them, though they looked nowhere near as bright and full of life as they had the night before.

"Whatever." He flopped down on the couch, feet hanging over the edge of one armrest as he sprawled out across it.

"Whatever what?"

His arms and feet were soon flailing and struggling in vain to keep him on the couch after Lovino jumped in surprise at the voice.

"Antonia."

"Hi again! Did you have a nice shower?"

"Why are you still here?"

"Your brother said none of the "cabs" here will go to Spain, but I'm not sure what he meant by that because I don't live in Spain? But he's gone, he said he'd be back later." She took a seat on the armrest his feet had previously been occupying while he picked himself up off the floor. Lovino scowled at her, and then scowled some more when he realised she was wearing a dress that looked very much like a favourite pink button-down shirt of his.

"...Did you make a dress out of my clothes?!"

"Oh, yes! Do you like it? Feliciano said it would be fine, since you have so many of these. Is pink your favourite colour?"

"NO. Yes. No, red is. Pink is a manly colour."

Antonia laughed and the dim light of the living room suddenly got brighter, even though the light bulb was dying and it had been very near going out completely. "Red’s my favourite too! And Antonio’s.”

"Good for you two."

“Green would look better on you, though. Your eyes aren't green like mine or Antonio's," Antonia leaned closer, apparently peering into his eyes. "But you've got these little flecks of it."

"Is there anything you and Antonio don’t have in common?"

"He hasn’t met you yet." She smiled and leaned a little closer. "There’re some gold flecks, too."

Lovino felt his cheeks heat up in response to the close proximity, though it apparently seemed entirely normal to Antonia. "Stop looking at my eyes, you weirdo."

He'd been expecting her to either A. back the hell off or B. completely ignore him and keep picking out all the various colours she could find in his irises, but he was definitely not expecting her to squeal, exclaim, "You're like a tomato!" and hug him. Definitely not expecting that at all. "I have got to introduce you to Antonio, he'd like you too, you're so cute!"

"Stop hugging me!" Lovino struggled in her embrace. "I don't want to meet your stupid fiancé, he's probably just as creepy as you are!"

"He's not creepy!" The lights dimmed in sync with Antonia's pout. "You really shouldn't say such mean things about somebody you've never even met!"

"I can say whatever the heck I want." ... _Heck?_

"But why would you want to say such mean things?" Antonia's pouting had stopped (the lights were apparently done "pouting" as well), and she was looking at Lovino with an expression of honest curiosity. "Why not see the good in people and talk about that instead?"

"What if there's nothing good to see?"

"There's always something good, even if it's hard to find." Her face lit up in a grin once more and she patted his still slightly pink cheek. "Like you!"

"What about me?"

"You're really grumpy and you say a lot of very rude words, and your brother says you're mean to everyone," Lovino looked offended and was about to protest, however Antonia just continued on, "But you've been very nice to me, letting me stay here and trying to help me."

"I've been trying to get you to _leave_."

"I don't think I'd still be here if you really meant it when you told me to go away."

Lovino made a frustrated noise and sank into the couch cushions, scooting as far away from Antonia as possible. "You're ridiculous." He flipped on the television to some shitty talk-show. Antonia just giggled and patted his leg, moving down off the armrest to sit on the couch properly. "So when is this Antonio guy going to come take you off my hands?"

"Not sure!"

"Great."


	5. A Girl Worth Fighting For

It was a sad day in the kingdom of Prince Antonio. Where normally clear blue skies extended as far as the eye could see, there was only a muddled grey. The rays of sunlight that normally bathed the land were replaced with a torrent of bitterly cold rain. The gentle breeze that sang through the trees had morphed beyond all recognition, becoming an angry wind that ripped through leaves and shook houses, terrifying the people inside them. Though it was rumoured that the people of this land could only know happiness, today they felt anything but.

Antonio was a mess, a complete and utter mess of devastation and pure heartbreak. He didn't know what had gone wrong— one minute everything had been perfect, yet the next brought nothing but woe. The caterers had informed him the food for their wedding guests would be ready on time despite the short notice, the ballroom in his mother's palace had been beautifully decorated in red and yellow, the official colours of their kingdom and also Antonio and Antonia's favourites. His mother, his beautiful, sweet, kind mamá, had placed her most cherished peineta in Antonia's bridal chamber, the emeralds adorning the hairpiece newly polished and waiting to be placed on Antonia's hair as she prepared for the ceremony.

Unfortunately, the comb waited, as did everyone else, for a bride that never made it to her own wedding.

"I just don't know what happened," Antonio sobbed. "Everything was going so well!"

"Completely," Gilbert agreed. "All three seconds you two spent together seemed pretty grand and mushy or whatever."

In a passionate display of his most terrible grief, Antonio threw himself down upon the ground, fists pounding the polished wood beneath him.

"So... I take it you _don't_ want to go see those new baby chicks from the farm around the corner?"

Eventually, Antonio picked himself up off the floor. Wife or no wife, he was still the prince of this fair kingdom, and he had to put on a brave face for the rest of his people, who were no doubt just as upset over the loss of their potential princess as he was. Fortunately for him, neither his hands nor the floor were harmed in any way during the course of his display of intense emotional upset.

"We must continue on as usual, my friend," he told Gilbert, his "brave face" still looking a little watery. "I know it will be hard on all of us. I mean, I really don't know what to do without her..." he trailed off, not sure if he should continue on. The fire that burned deeply within his soul said that should let it all out, however, and who was Prince Antonio to argue with that? "I can't eat, I can't sleep, my entire life is consumed in misery," he confessed to his dearest friend. "I fear I'll be thinking of her forever, always wondering what sort of foul play has befallen my beloved."

"Dude. She's been gone for an hour."

"You're right," Antonio said with a weary sigh before popping a cherry tomato into his mouth. "I should rest, it's no use searching for her when I'm in this state."  
With that, Antonio was off to his chambers, and Gilbert was quickly going to see if Francis and Arthur could fix this whole mess before he had to put with another hour of Antonio's grief.

Outside, the rain continued to fall.

\---

Many hours and a torrential downpour later found Antonio sitting outside in the tomato field, still decked in wedding regalia that now glistened with raindrops. The tomatoes, though not quite used to water in such large amounts, held up quite nicely, their leaves almost seeming to bend and shift to shield Antonio from the storm. The bright red, perfectly ripe fruit brushed against Antonio's shoulders in a fragrant embrace.

Never one to say no to a tomato, no matter how down he felt, Antonio plucked one of the tomatoes from the vine and took a bite.

The second his teeth sunk into the ripe flesh of the tomato, Antonio immediately felt inspired. A whisper in the wind rang through the tomato field as a strong breeze shifted the tomatoes all in one direction and Antonio rose from the earth. He began to run as fast as he could, the rain washing away any dirt and grime that may have been clinging to his clothes. He heard nothing– neither his heavy footballs, nor his own breath– excepting that faint whisper that only grew louder the closer he got to whatever it was the tomatoes were pointing him towards.

Even once he was free of the tomato field, he didn’t stop running, his course was something he already knew within his very soul, though it was impossible to say how exactly he came about this knowledge. Antonio ran and ran, ignoring the odd looks of his citizens, ignoring the fact that, though he should know his kingdom like the back of his hand (was that a new freckle?), he’d never before seen this pristine well with its bottomless, swirling pool of water.

The tomato still in his hand slipped from his grasp and fell down, spiraling through the waters before disappearing in a flash of white light before it could reach the unseen bottom of the well.

And somehow, someway, Antonio knew he’d need to follow suit if he wanted to find Antonia.

“Antonio. Buddy. Get off the well and stop mumbling about tomatoes.” A firm grasp around his shoulders pulled Antonio back before he could jump down the well and he shook his head, waking from the trance he’d been in.

“Have you been drinking? Because you really should be if you haven’t. It’s good for you.”

Antonio shook his head and pointed down the well. “No, Gilbert, I know how to find Antonia! I know what happened to her!”

Gilbert froze. Though the memories of his and Francis’ deal with Arthur were vague and drowned in a cloud of too much beer, he knew Antonia disappearing was partially his fault and he was pretty sure having your best friend’s fiancée thrown down a well on the day of their wedding by a guy that liked to dress up like a fairy was so against the Bro Code that it didn’t even need to be written down. Not that Gilbert felt guilty! It was for Antonio’s own good, after all. He laughed nervously and glanced at Antonio, who was still looking down the well with a determined look in his eye. “Yeah? What happened to her?”

“I’m not sure how,” Antonio began, “But she’s fallen down this well, and I need to go get her.”

“And who told you that?” If it was Francis, Gilbert was going to punch him in the face. Or think about punching him in the face and then just end up looking vaguely annoyed at him, because Gilbert was too awesome to go around punching his friends in the face. Definitely. Either way, stupid f—friend of his probably blamed it all on him. Or on Arthur (which was far more likely, actually, Gilbert wasn’t all that worried about it).

“The tomatoes,” Antonio said simply.

“The toma— Toni. No. The tomatoes didn’t tell you anything.”

Antonio just laughed and pulled Gilbert into a hug. “Try not to trash my place while I’m gone, okay? Mamá will kick you out. Again.”

“While you’re gone—shoot.”

Before Gilbert really knew what was happening, he was being shoved away and Antonio was jumping down in the well, and by the time he looked back down the well, not even a stray ripple in the water showed that anyone had ever been in there.

\---

“You want me to jump down a well.”

“Yes.”

“To look for Prince Antonio.”

“Now you’re getting it, Lud! Now go.” Francis laughed as Gilbert unsuccessfully tried to push his “little” brother out the door. After a few rounds and an interesting talk with Arthur, it was determined that no harm would really come to anyone who jumped down that well. Though Arthur had been feeling a bit overdramatic and attempted to send Antonia to a place with “no happy endings”, a look into his crystal ball had revealed that if no happy endings meant being asleep on some random couch, then unhappy endings were far more comfortable than they sounded.

Francis shooed Gilbert away. “Go watch Antonia mumble about tomatoes in her sleep, she’s worse than Antonio.” With Arthur passed out in the corner, nobody else in the room quite knew how to turn the crystal ball off and really, they should probably keep an eye on the poor girl they’d drunkenly sent to a strange world before any of them could think better of it. “Ludwig, my friend, we need you to do us this favour. As Antonio’s personal guard, it’s your duty anyway, no?”

“Francis. We’ve talked about you touching me.”

“So we have. You’ll need to leave right away, before our poor queen realises her baby boy is gone.” Francis pat Ludwig on the shoulder, and again for good measure, smile never leaving his face, for her knew he’d already won this argument. “Of course, you can always tell her you don’t want to go look for him…”

Ludwig cleared his throat and stepped away from Francis, eager to make his exit even if it meant going on a strange search for the kingdom’s airheaded prince. At the very least, he’d be free of his older brother and his instances that he party with him every night for awhile. “That won’t be necessary. Should she notice his absence, tell her I’ll bring him back as soon as possible.”

“That’s the spirit!” Gilbert cried. “Tell Toni to bring us back something nice, this place they’re in looks way awesome.”

“I’ll pass the message along.”

With that, Ludwig was off, and though he had no idea what sort of world he’d find himself in, he left with the hope that nobody in this unknown place had personal space issues quite as poor as Francis’.


	6. April Fool's Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My attempt at pranking people before the real next chapter

Lovino woke up on the couch, with no memory of why exactly he was there and not in his bed. His clothes were ruffled and wrinkled, showing he'd clearly been there awhile. He glanced at the watch still firmly in place on his wrist. 1 AM. He yawned and stretched out, stomach rumbling as he did so. "Where'd Antonia get off to," he mumbled, wondering why his strange new house guest hadn't woken him up by singing to the tomatoes or making him dinner or whatever else it was she did.

He got up to look around, calling out her name as he looked around the small apartment. It wasn't that he was worried-- if her "prince" had shown up and whisked her away, whatever, he didn't have to deal with her-- he was just feeling really hungry and lazy and he knew she'd make him something to eat. That was all.

"Antonia?"

No answer.

"Antonia, seriously, not cool. Where'd you go?"

Nothing.

"Fratello?"

Lovino jumped when the voice that answered back was decidedly not-female (though barely, tch), only to calm down when he realised it was just Feliciano. "Don't jump out at me like that moron. Did you see where Antonia went?"

"...Antonia?"

Lovino rolled his eyes. "Yes, stupid. The woman you met earlier? About this tall," he gestured with his hands. "Green eyes, curly brown hair, you two got along really well?"

Feliciano just blinked at Lovino.

"She just showed up here. Too dumb to find her way home. Getting married to some airhead named Antonio. Ringing any bells?" Lovino was starting to get more flustered the more Feliciano just stared at him with blank, uncomprehending eyes. "Ruined my favourite shirt to make a dress for herself? You don't remember?"

Suddenly Feliciano's eyes lit up with recognition (somehow... even though they weren't quite open) and then he was laughing and Lovino was even more irritated because damnit, he hated it when people laughed near him when it wasn't at something he also found funny. "Lovi, did you fall asleep watching that Enchanted movie again?"

"...What now?"

Feliciano just kept giggling and pat him on the shoulder. "Ve, you're so silly, Fratello. Go back to bed and stop staying up so late."

With that, Feliciano steered a sputtering Lovino towards his bedroom. A bedroom where all his best shirts were still hung up in the closet, untouched by any hands but his own. A bedroom where, from the small window on the wall, he could see the rain pouring down outside, he could glimpse his back deck and see his tomatoes were completely uncovered and taking a beating from the storm.

A bedroom where he laid down to sleep, utterly confused and wondering what had happened, why that dream had seemed so real, and why, now that was rid of that mysterious woman, he wasn't feeling so excited about it...

 

And they all lived. Because there are no happily ever afters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Got you!"

"Aghhh, fuck, what?!" Lovino struggled when a pair of arms wrapped around him. A pair of finely manicured hands.

"What the fuck, Antonia?! Feliciano, what is this!"

"APRIL FOOLS!" they both cried, quickly running off to recover the tomatoes and escape Lovino's wrath.


	7. Listen With Your Heart

Antonio burst through the manhole at the end of the well's portal, landing gracefully on the hard asphalt and startling the crew working diligently on putting said manhole back in its place.

"Oi, buddy," one of them said. "What's your deal?"

Antonio gave him a winning smile and dusted off his shirt. "I'm looking for a woman."

"Aren't we all," one mumbled.

"A specific woman," Antonio clarified. "With eyes greener than tomato vines and a voice straight from the heavens. I'm sure she's been by here?"

"I'm sure she has." A third man ushered him out of the way. "Get moving. We need to fix this again."

Antonio was a fair man, and very polite as well, so of course he moved along, thanking the men for their help and continuing on down the street, listening closely just in case his bride-to-be happened to be nearby.

"Hey, buddy, you're in the--"

Suddenly, a loud screech rang through the air as some sort of large, hulking machine stopped in front of Antonio. Antonio stared at it for a moment. It didn't stare back, for it had no eyes, but upon seeing the horrified faces of the people within, Antonio knew this creature was up to no good!

"Stand back, beast!" he cried, pulling his trusty sword (his mother gave it to him, of course he brought it with him!) from its scabbard and jamming into the creature's... mouth? Antonio had never seen a beast quite like this, but when the sword barely managed to break the skin, he knew he was up against something terrible.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Antonio assumed it was the monster speaking and jumped atop its head, jamming the sword in through the top, above where he'd heard the noise. People started flooding out its side, screaming and rushing off toward the sidewalk, and Antonio knew he'd done a good job, since every single one got out alive.

"Did you just stab my bus?" one of the women asked, looking at him with furious gratitude. At least that is what he thought it was. What else could it be?

"No need to thank me," Antonio said with a smile, patting the woman on the shoulder. "You're all free from the beast, rejoice!"

With that, Antonio set off to find Antonia. He knew she'd understand his being distracted, but he really did want to find her soon! He set off down one of the many streets, hoping his heart (and possibly a stray tomato) would lead him to his love.

\---

"Antonia, I have to go to work."

"Oh, but I made you all this nice food and it's so early! Can't you just wait a bit? You look so tired."

"It doesn't work that way." Lovino yawned for what felt like the billionth time and grabbed his bag. "I'll be late if I wait any longer." His stomach growled, letting him know that it had indeed noticed the large spread of food currently taking up his entire kitchen table. "Shit. Fine. I'll take some to go, but I really need to leave."

Antonia sighed. "What a horrible place this is if you don't even have time to eat!"

Lovino rolled his eyes at her, grabbed a piece of toast, and set off. "You stay here. Don't touch anything. Don't open the door for anyone."

"What if--"

"No. Goodbye."

Lovino quickly left before Antonia could ask any more questions. He looked at his watch, cursing when he noticed what time it was, and ran down the hallway, taking the stairs two and three at a time. He continued running when he got outside, weaving in and out of the crowds of people taking up the sidewalk, holding tight to his bag and making every effort possible to not run into somebody and add minutes he didn't have to his commute.

Apparently, other assholes weren't as considerate as him, because some douche who looked like he was on his way to a Renaissance ball bumped into his shoulder and sent him stumbling into stairs outside the call center. "Watch where you're going, dickbag!" He stood up quickly and went to dust himself off, but said dickbag beat him to it.

"I'm really, really sorry!" he cried, quickly running his hands over Romano's scuffed trousers. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, stop touching me."

"Right, sorry!"

"Whatever." Romano would have liked to tell the weirdly dressed idiot off, but he had only a minute before his shift started and if he hurried he could clock in just in time...

"I don't want to bother you, but I'm looking for--"

"You _are_ bothering me, go ask somebody else."

"Oh, alright! Nice meeting you!" The man smiled radiantly, giving Lovino an energetic wave before taking off running down the street. He narrowly avoided running into Edmée as she rushed by and Lovino rolled his eyes.

"You scare him off or something?" she asked on their way in to work. "Should have made him wait for me, he's cute."

"Probably a nut job, did you see how he was dressed?"

"Maybe he's going to a costume party. Or getting back from one, it's pretty early."

"Too early." Lovino found his desk, located right next to Edmée's, and quickly seated himself after checking around for their boss.

\---

Ludwig had hoped, for a brief moment as he passed through the strange portal between worlds, that Antonio wouldn't have gone far by the time he got through. He knew it was futile, however, as everyone knew once Antonio got an idea into his head it was near impossible to get it out of there, and he was surely halfway to... wherever it was he was going... by the time Ludwig came crashing through the manhole.

"Motherfucker!" a man in a strange yellow hat exclaimed. "What is it with people today? Let me guess, you're looking for some chick too?"

Ludwig quickly dusted himself off before standing up straight in front of the other man, who he now saw was surrounded by others dressed similarly to himself. "I apologise for my intrusion. I'm looking for a man, actually, perhaps you've seen him?"

The crew grumbled and picked up the manhole, to attempt once more to put it back in its rightful place. "Whatever floats your boat, buddy, just get the hell out of here."

Not wanting to upset the crew further, despite their lack of help, Ludwig quickly set off down the street.

\---

"Hey, Vargas!"

Lovino looked up at the sound of his name to find one of the security guards standing in the door of the company's break room. "Yeah, what?"

"Some lady is here to see you. Says she brought something you forgot."

Lovino had no idea what "lady" would be visiting him at work, since Edmée was in the room with him, nobody in his family ever visited him at work, and-- oh. "Dark hair, green eyes, really obnoxious?"

"Hey, if you don't want her, I'll gladly--"

Whatever the security guard would gladly do with Antonia, Lovino never found out, because she burst in the room just then, waving around a paper bag. "Lovino! There you are. You didn't bring anything for lunch and Feliciano said I should bring this over! He even walked me here on his way to the store, isn't that so sweet of him?"

"So, so sweet of him," Edmée replied, drowning out Lovino's response of, "No, that is not sweet at all." She looked Antonia up and down and then winked at Lovino. "Is this the reason you never want to hang out with us on weekends, Lovino? You're so mean, keeping a secret girlfriend from me."

Lovino was quick to deny this "secret girlfriend" business, but Edmée's grin didn't fade at all until Antonia agreed with him. "Oh no, Lovino's just a friend! I'm staying with him until my fiancé comes to find me and take me back to the palace."

"Palace? Where is there a--"

"It's just some huge ass house in the country," Lovino lied. "She's exaggerating"

"I'm not, it really is a palace!"

"Sure it is." Lovino grabbed Antonia by the arm and tried to lead her away before Edmée could ask any more questions, but she followed them out of the break room.

"Sooo," she started. "How do you know Lovino, then?"

"We just me--"

"Friend of my cousin's," Lovino interrupted. "Gave me some shit about how she can't see the groom before the wedding and pawned her off on me. You know how she is."

"Same as you are?"

"Is not. She's a crazy bitch."

"Aw, you shouldn't say things like that about your family." Antonia pouted at Lovino as if he had personally insulted her and he scowled back at her.

"Well she is. Thanks for the lunch, you should go now." He took the bag and tried to wave her off, but Edmée grabbed her arm.

"You can't make her walk back by herself, what if she gets lost?"

She had a point. Unfortunately. "I'll call Feliciano to get her, then." He grabbed his phone before making his way over to a quieter corner of the building. "Don't go anywhere, either of you. I'll be right back."

"We won't."

"And don't ask her too many questions. You're nosy, it annoys people," he called out.

"Sure thing, Lovi."

Lovino pressed the phone to his ear, willing Feliciano to pick up quickly so he didn't leave Edmée and Antonia alone with one another for too long. "Pick up, pick up..."

"Hey! You've reached Feliciano! Well, his answering machine! If you--"

"Fucking hell." Lovino called back again, willing his brother to pick up the damn phone.

“Vargas, your break is over! Back to the phones.”

Lovino cursed and peeked back into the room, only to find his phone ringing. “One of you assholes get that, I’ll be in there in a minute.”

He didn’t pay any mind to the voice calling, “I’ve got it!” back at him, just pressed the redial button once more. All he got was the voicemail greeting. He grumbled and went back over to his desk, where Antonia was busy chatting with somebody on his phone.

Wait.

"What are you doing?!" He tried to snatch the phone from her, but she waved him off.

"Is that so? Oh I'm so sorry your day is going so poorly! Of course the com-pu-ter not working would make that worse, huh?"

"Antonia, give me the damn phone."

"And you tried everything to make it work? That is just too bad. Maybe you should go take a nap, that always calms me down when I'm having a bad day. Or go have some tomatoes! Unless you don't like tomatoes, but they really are the very best at fixing up a bad day."

"That's not going to help them, give me the phone."

Antonia shushed him and turned her attention back to the phone, nodding enthusiastically at the (to Lovino) low sound of the person on the other end talking to her. "They can't see you," he mumbled.

"Well why not?" she asked loudly and Lovino nearly snatched the headset right off her head, before he heard what she had to say next. "Yes yes, you should go out with your friends! That's a great idea for making your day better! Then worry about that..."

"Computer."

"Computer later!" she finished. "Okay, you have a nice day too! Bye bye!"

Lovino blinked in confusion and so did Edmée, who had finally decided to reappear. "That's not what I told her to do," she insisted. "But I guess that works too."

"Why are you having her answer the phone for me?" Lovino demanded. "Antonia, give the phone back, you're not doing it right."

"But she sounded so happy! She was really angry when she called in, though I don't really understand why."

"Because she-- ugh. Never mind. Feliciano isn't answering when I call him."

"Probably can't hear you very well from here."

Lovino ignored Antonia's comment and continued. "So just wait here with me, I guess. But not more answering my phone."

Antonia nodded and Edmée quickly shoved another chair over to Lovino's desk. "Don't touch anything. You're only staying here until Feliciano calls me back."

"Alright. But Lovino?"

"What?"

"You haven't eaten the food I brought yet! Maybe that's why you're so cranky."

He ignored Edmée's giggling and pulled a sandwich from the bag. Hopefully it would get Antonia to shut up for a few minutes.

\---

Two blocks over, Feliciano was desperately trying to figure out where he had lost his cell phone at.

"It was in my pocket when I left," he said to himself. "And then I used it at the store! Maybe I left it there." He turned around and ran back down the street, unaware of the buzzing coming from one of the grocery bags in his hand.

He was also very much unaware that he was about to bump into another man walking the opposite way down the street. Before either of them could stop and avoid collision, Feliciano was running head first into a shoulder and he and his bags went tumbling to the ground.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He looked up at the taller, scary looking man above him and was instantly glad nothing had spilled on him. "Please don't hurt me, I didn't mean to."

"I wasn't planning on hurting you, I think you did that well enough yourself." Said scary looking man kneeled down and began picking up the scattered groceries. "Does nobody watch where they're going here? That really would avoid collisions like these."

"Ah, I guess we don't..." Feliciano laughed. "It's just I was looking for my phone-- my phone!" He pointed excitedly at an item the man had just picked up. "You found it! Thank you!"

"It must have been in your bags." He handed the phone to Feliciano, who put it back in his pocket where it belonged. "Though it doesn't look very edible, what sort of fruit is it?"

Feliciano laughed again. "Aw, you're funny! You're right, it doesn't belong in with my bags of fruit, I don't know how it got in there. I'm Feliciano, by the way."

"Ludwig." The man held his hand out to shake Feliciano's once they had both stood back up and Feliciano took it, enthusiastically shaking it between his own despite the fact that he had just been scared of Ludwig a few minutes earlier.

"Nice to meet you Ludwig! Here, let me get you a drink, to thank you for helping me!"

"Oh, that won't be necessary."

"It is! You found my phone and everything, I have to thank you."

Ludwig looked like he was about to refuse, but he sighed in defeat after a moment of hesitation. "I suppose. If that is the custom here."

Feliciano, Ludwig, and the slightly wrinkled bags of groceries went back up the street, not noticing as Prince Antonio walked into the store Feliciano had just been running towards.


End file.
